Suthern Accents

[zxcvbob]

And don't forget "Well, bless your heart!" 

[RoadKingLarry]

You are correct.
For the proper way to express the term and sentiment Minnie Pearl is the best example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjX1LpSow_g&feature=related

[Perd Hapley]

Another southronism worthy of discussion involves concluding a conversation or dismissing one's self from a gathering.

Goodbye = See'ya.  The accent is on the first syllable

I.......don't think that's Southern.

[Monkeyleg]

And don't forget "Well, bless your heart!"

Near as I can tell, that can be mildly complimentary, or a "what an idiot" put-down.

For example, one person says, "Did you hear that Minnie drove her car into a tree while putting on makeup?"

Other person says, "Well, bless her heart."

[MechAg94]

I'm fine, how are you?  

(it's my theory "howdy" is a contraction of "How do you do?")

BTW, when a real Southerner says "y'all", you barely notice it because it's subtle and it fits in the sentence.  When a Yankee says y'all to affect a fake Southern accent, it sticks out like a sore thumb.  But the worst is when someone like Paula Deen (from Georgia) lays it on extra thick, just hamming it up for the TV cameras.

Faked accents intended as mockery rarely compliment the speaker.  IMO, that is one of the problems with some modern country music. 

[280plus]

Depends on the skill of the fake accenter. I'm pretty good at a lot of different accents. Best I ever did was turn around to the guy behind me in the line to the Empire State building and do an exact fake of the "Tony the keeyab drivuh" Brooklyn accented guy recording you listen to spiel off facts while you're,,,standing in the line waiting to go into The Empire State Building. Cracked him right up.

[Hutch]

Bad fakes: Olympia Dukakis and Shirley McClain in Steel Magnolias.  Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump.  Michael Caine in Secondhand Lions.  Really REALLY grates on the nerves of a native Southerner.

[MechAg94]

My version of "bad fakes" was more directed at people who think they are mocking someone else with an accent.  Usually, the mocker has a pretty thick accent themselves. 

I guess Houston has so many transplants you get exposed to a lot of them.  I guess that is common in the larger cities in Texas.  The only accents I typically see mocked by natives are the Indian and Middle Eastern.  Easy targets I guess.

[Perd Hapley]

Bad fakes: Olympia Dukakis and Shirley McClain in Steel Magnolias.  Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump.  Michael Caine in Secondhand Lions.  Really REALLY grates on the nerves of a native Southerner.

There can't be a worse faux Southern accent than Nick Cage in Con Air.

And Tom Hanks was trying to sound like a retarded Southerner. That's redundant, of course.

[Monkeyleg]

Redundancy would be Tom Hanks trying to sound like a retarded Tom Hanks.

[lupinus]

And Tom Hanks was trying to sound like a retarded Southerner. That's redundant, of course.

He sounded nothing like sling blade